Friday, October 28, 2005

Listening to R.A.Washington's AUDIO BLOG. Pretty compelling stuff. Who Am I? Where Do I Fit? How Do I Be True To Myself? Damn! I'm starving, in the dark, without heat!He questions whether folks in careers are satisfied, doing what they want in their carriers, and more or less making it.Reasons folks don't succeed include: no skill, no drive, no education, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of a risk, no confidence in God, and because God has not allowed it. I guess this last one supersedes all of the rest except that God might not allow it because of one of the other reasons. Catch 22 at it's best, wouldn't you say?R.A. feels it is an unalienable right to make money at what one loves. This a is relatively new concept in Industrialized America as far as the masses are concerned. Educated folk thought that way but higher education wasn't a mainstream concept until the late 60's when Black people saw it as a way out and mainstreamed it, followed by White women in the early 7o's. This country was driven by longshoremen, factory workers, construction folks and folks would have to be crazy to be in their careers for fun. That's why until recently this country's work force has been "Llivin' for the Weekend." John Keynes, an economic theorist brought in a theory that was soundly rejected until the 1929 deppression. President Kennedy assigned, Keynes follower, Walter Heller to head the President’s Council of Economic advisers and thus we have Keynesian economics being pushed at us by the government. His theories give rise to the consumer driven economics and culture that we have today.I hope I don't sound like I have answers. I am about to give up on the notion that I will ever make a proper choice that will lead to prosperity and happiness and fulfillment. Like R.A. at first glance all the ingredients are there for success. It hasn't happened yet. God doesn't count success like I do and that is a problem.I know my own heart can lie to me. It has done so on many occasions. So I try to trust and follow God. It seems I am not capable of seeing the right thing to do AND then doing it and I suffer the consequences.What will be my legacy?... poverty, defeat, dissolutionment? Suppose I am rich in God's eyes? Wouldn't I know it? Well I know no such thing. I have the grace of salvation but that is not enough in the present and I've yet to develop a long range view of where I am.

Your Host

Cavana Faithwalker was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Much of his
worldview and values have been molded by his Blackness bestowed upon him in a
working class Black, urban neighborhood. He blames his packrat tendencies, the
economy in his art and poetry on being raised by an Alabama, depression baby
momma who was raised on a farm with her nine brothers and sisters. "She is
probably the reason I fight consumerism gone amuck and the overly me-ish
influence of our society," says Cavana.

His fascination with mechanical things, physics, his aesthetics,
his sense of humor and how things relate to each other comes from construction
worker dad and others.

He has a degree in public art marketing and management from
Cleveland State University. His major is composed of Urban Studies, Studio Art and Marketing.

He says his “new best friend” now is Amit Goswami a quantum
physicist turned spiritual guru and quantum activist. " I
think something is happening worldwide as far as spiritual consciousness.
For me after almost a quarter century of mainstream and somewhat
fundamentalist Christian dogma and orthodoxy, that whole thing is giving in to a new interpretation of what
the canon says and also what is myth and what is ‘reality.’

When it comes to orthodoxy and dogma I
rather like an adage attributed to Zen Buddhism, ‘when you meet the Buddha in
the road, kill the Buddha.’"

Cavana believes in congruency. “The more you can be in sync with your
authentic self the healthier you are and the more life you bring to the things
you do, yeah congruency.” He aims
at being content in life and enjoying life. His mantra is breathe in breathe out. “Through meditating when I play my didgeridoo
I may have zeroed in on the one thing that won’t change in my world view, it
may be the constancy that anchors me, the lessons in science, those
metaphysical concepts beyond the science of plant animal relationships
surrounding oxygen are powerful. A natural outcome of this mantra is thinking
win-win, big picture, and yin yang.

Perhaps when you gravitate to something or are in accord with something it was meant to be that revelations come through it.I learned to play the didjeridoo in 30 minutes, ‘circular’ breathing and how to make sounds.Many play along time without learning ‘circular breathing’ but it just seemed like the thing to do."

Cavana is a visual and performance artists, he sings and plays
didjeridu and is aiming at attaining some level of expertise at throat singing
also know as overtone singing.

Cavana was the Poet Laureate for the City of Cleveland Heights,
Ohio from 2011-2013.

"Muhammed Ali got me into poetry with his prose and antics in the
70s," Faithwalker says. "I would write prose poetry and recite
them for fellow students in high school." He won his first poetry
contest while in high school.

Today Cavana puts himself in the activist 'box'. "A lot of folks don't like labels but we are hardwired to label and pre judge. I read this sign that said activism is the rent for living on this planet, or something like that. I like that but even more so we are all activists if we become aware and congruent. We naturally care, compassion, and get involved and wear off on those that have been beat up too much to care and get involved - empowerment. When we get too beat up someone re empowers us. Romantic view I know and I try to live into it.